Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Ain't Makin' No Resolutions!

At this time every year a lot of people make them. Resolutions. Goals. Aspirations. Declarations. Intentions. Call them what you will, a rose by any name is still a rose. However, I always called them goals and, generally, along with what was a growing “to do” list, have tried to use them to help guide my research. It seldom works. I'm not gonna do it this year. I'm doin' sumthin' else.

However, for the record, I did set a few goals for 2009.

I thought I'd get back to posting at Whitley County Kinexxions but that didn't happen and likely won't for some time to come. The blog will remain, taking up a little room out there in cyberspace. Maybe someone will find something of interest there someday.

I thought I'd contribute to the Carnival of Genealogy and Smile for the Camera more often. But that didn't happen either. In fact there were fewer contributions this year than in the past.

Illness and surgery sidelined me for several months early in the year. But they were the impetus for a major change in my lifestyle.

Scanning family photo albums and genea-documents were on the list too. Guess what? They became a high priority item and they got done! Yeah! Feels Good. Something Accomplished.

I was going to start the cleanup of my two genealogy data files, and update sources. Didn't happen. And isn't going to happen for quite some time either. But, I did get Legacy 7 installed. That was the first step in the process. A smalll step, but a start. Sort of.

I wanted to continue with research begun in 2008 on the Fisher and Wise families. Didn't happen. With a proposed research trip to New England (which kinda, sorta didn't happen), the Joslin line became the primary focus with a review of documentation and research that has been done to prove the connections between generations.

My final goal for 2009 was to make my task list shorter for 2010. It is. Actually, there isn't one. Not formally anyway.

That doesn't mean there aren't things that I should do or need to do.
All those scanned files still need to be organized, tagged, and identified.
My Legacy databases still need to be cleaned up and the sources still need fixed.
There are still ancestors and relatives to be found.
There is still more research to be done on the ancestors that have been found.
Perhaps it is better to say that the task list is on hold. Indefinitely.

For there are places to go and people to see.
There are still stories to write and pictures to take.
The Journey continues. Indefinitely.
Perhaps I'll see you somewhere along the way...

This post was written for the 87th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: New Year's Resolutions!

5 comments:

Lori H said...

Sounds like a plan! Happy New Year!

GrannyPam said...

Enjoy the Journey, that is why we are here, after all. Please contact me if you get to southeastern Michigan, I'd love to give you shelter and sustance.

footnoteMaven said...

I am here in Seattle hoping for a visit. I want to hear all about the Journey in person.

Write me, I'll leave the lights on!

-fM

J.M. said...

Sometimes a good plan is no particular plan at all.

I wish you luck, love and laughter in 2010!

Susan Kitchens said...

Perfect. Love the utter realism.
It's along the lines of under-promise and over-deliver....

Under-resolve and over-deliver. Or something.
(Still embarrassed by a long, long list I composed a while back. Taking that tack myself)